I: Introduction

The Last House on the Left is a 1972 rape and revenge film written and directed by Wes Craven, his directorial debut. It was produced by Sean S Cunningham, who helped create and who directed the first Friday the 13th film. TLHOTL stars Sandra Peabody and Lucy Grantham, with David Hess, Fred J Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, Marc Sheffler, and Martin Kove.

The movie is a kind of modern retelling of Ingmar Bergman‘s Virgin Spring, which in turn is based on the Swedish ballad “Törres döttrar i Wänge.” TLHOTL was cut many times for the MPAA to get an R rating; as a result, there are many different versions of the film on DVD and VHS reissues, and it’s difficult to get a completely uncut version of the film. Some incomplete scenes include a forced lesbian sex scene between the two victim girls in the woods, Mari (Peabody) in her room naked while reading birthday cards, and Mari raped by Sadie (Rain) in the woods. As we can see, TLHOTL is a rather “vulgarized” version of Bergman’s film, as the Christian Science Monitor News Service called it.

TLHOTL got largely negative reviews on release, but its critical reputation improved somewhat over the years, with some praising the narrative and Peabody’s and Hess’s performances. It’s now considered a cult film, and it was nominated for AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills in 2001. A remake was made in 2009, though it’s generally considered inferior to the original.

Here is a link to quotes from the film, and here is a link to the full movie.

You might be wondering, Dear Reader, why I have chosen to do an analysis of this film rather than of The Virgin Spring, TLHOTL‘s inspiration, and artistically a far superior film. The fact is that it is the very vulgarity of TLHOTL that I find important to discuss, as well as the sadism of it, not only in the sexual abuse of the two girls, Mari and Phyllis (Grantham), but also in the violent revenge that Mari’s parents take on the gang who rape, degrade, and murder Mari and Phyllis.

The reason that I am so intrigued by this vulgarity and sadism is that I see a way to watch so unsettling a film, a way that makes it relevant to some of the horrors we’ve been learning of in recent years. Just as films like Salò and Eyes Wide Shut have been related to the Epstein crimes, so can TLHOTL in a way, and this latter film can also galvanize us, if watched in the right frame of mind, to push for justice for, if not outright revenge on, the rapists of those then-underaged girls whom the Epstein criminals had (Mari, while played by an older actress, has just turned 17 in the story).

It should be infuriating to all of us that so little has been done about the Epstein scandal, so watching Mari’s parents, normally mild-mannered, bourgeois people, carrying out as violent and sadistic a revenge against a gang of sadists could help galvanize us to do what’s necessary to get justice for Epstein’s victims.

II: Comparing TLHOTL, The Virgin Spring, and the Epstein Crimes

TLHOTL	The Virgin Spring	Epstein Crimes
Mari and Phyllis go to the city to attend a rock concert.	Karin and servant Ingeri take candles to church.	Underage girls go to, and are groomed by, the Epstein criminals.
Sadie assists “Weasel” and Krug in their degradation of Mari and Phyllis.	Ingeri, envious of Karin, “wills” her to be raped.	Ghislane Maxwell, Naomi Campbell, and Hillary Clinton are involved, in one way or another with (i.e., grooming for, winking at, if not outright participating in), the Epstein crimes.
Phyllis is gang-raped by “Weasel,” Sadie, and Krug, then Mari is raped by Sadie and Krug. Both are murdered. Junior watches and does nothing.	Two herdsmen rape and murder Karin. A boy who’s with the herdsmen watches and can do nothing.	Epstein, Trump, et al sexually abuse the underage girls. There are also killings, including by cannibalism, allegedly. Most others who personally knew Epstein and about the crimes have generally done nothing to help the victims find justice.
Two incompetent cops can do nothing to help the girls or Mari’s parents.	No law enforcement involved.	Law enforcement so far has been pretty much slack, if not useless, in seeking justice for the victims.
Mari’s parents brutally kill the rapists/murderers.	Karin’s father, Töre, kills the herdsmen and the boy.	What is to be done? Revolution is not a dinner party.

III: The Opening Act of TLHOTL

A postman notes all the birthday cards being sent to Mari, who is then seen taking a shower. Her mom and dad are uncomfortable about her going to the big city at night with only Phyllis to accompany her, and especially with Mari not wearing a bra; still, they let her go.

Their house is way out in the woods, isolated, hence the name of the film. We see the two girls out there for a while, enjoying themselves; our sense of sympathy for them is being established. We also get a sense of Mari’s budding sexuality, too, which will be turned into something tragic and horrifying soon enough.

In the city that night, Mari and Phyllis hope to buy some marijuana. Meanwhile, Krug Stillo (Hess), his illegitimate son, Junior (Sheffler), Fred “Weasel” Podorowski (Lincoln), and Sadie are on the lam from the cops after Krug and Weasel broke out of prison. The girls have heard a news report about the criminals on the car radio, but they don’t show much concern. They meet Junior by the building where the gang is hiding out for the moment; he promises he can get them some weed if they go up to his room with them. Once inside the room, the girls are abducted.

IV: Juxtapositions of Good and Bad

What’s interesting at this point in the movie is how scenes of the gang terrorizing the girls in that room alternate with scenes of Mari’s mom and dad preparing her birthday party (decorations, birthday cake). The hideous and the innocent are so closely juxtaposed here. This is significant given how later, the girls will be further abused and murdered in the very same woods that lead to Mari’s parents’ house, where the killers will later go for accommodations, since their car broke down, the telephones often aren’t working, and Mari took the family car into town. It’s a small world, isn’t it?

The point is that there’s a kind of providential proximity of the ‘heaven and hell,’ as it were, in this movie. As a result, karma comes swiftly.

There is, however, an odd incongruity between the film and its musical soundtrack…from time to time, at least. This incongruity was intentional, apparently, as a conscious break from conventional horror movie music scores. The writers of the music, Stephen Chapin and Hess (who also plays Krug, recall), used a mix of folk rock and bluegrass for the movie. Synthesizer noises tend to be used during violent moments, though.

The incongruity between the narrative and the music is at its sharpest in the scene when we see the gang take the girls, bound and gagged, from the apartment and into the trunk of their getaway car. While this is happening, we hear what sounds like an inappropriate choice of music: an upbeat, bluegrass instrumental called “Baddies Theme.” During what should be a great moment of terror, we hear music that, if anything, sounds flippant in attitude to the situation. A hint to the intention is in the music’s title: from the point of view of a psychopath, one who regards people as mere toys to play with, this moment of terror is sheer fun.

Indeed, there are many examples of a juxtaposition of good and bad, including extremes of these. Mari is a sweet, innocent 17-year-old virgin, yet she isn’t wearing a bra (to the consternation of her parents), and she and Phyllis hope to score some weed before going to a rock concert, the band having the name of “Bloodlust.” It’s an ill omen for them.

Her parents are the typical “nice” people, even willing to accommodate a group of strangers; then, when these strangers turn out to be the murderers of their daughter, the parents immediately plan a vicious revenge, and thus become murderers themselves. Their home is by a beautiful, serene forest, yet here is where Mari and Phyllis are degraded, raped, and murdered.

The house is a place of safety for Mari, but a place of death for her killers. The killers are perfectly safe to kill her and Phyllis in the forest, but they’re anything but safe in the house.

The cops are supposed to protect the community, but the two in question are so incompetent, they can’t even arrive at the house on time to stop Mari’s parents from killing the gang.

V: Doublings

Apart from these juxtaposed opposites, there are also a number of doublings in TLHOTL. Two girls are raped and killed, rather than the one in The Virgin Spring. Two parents avenge their daughter, rather than the one father in TVS. There are two bumbling cops.

We see Mari naked in the shower at the beginning, then she’s naked and victimized later. After her murder, we see Sadie washing the blood off of herself in the lake, then she’s killed at the end of the film. Both Mari and Sadie, when killed, are seen floating head up in water (the lake, and the family’s swimming pool, respectively).

The girls can’t find any weed and Junior never gets a “fix” for his heroin addiction. There are two families: Mari and her parents, and Junior and his abusive father, Krug.

VI: The Middle Act of TLHOTL

To get back to the story, the gang is going in their car with the girls in the trunk, but they have car trouble, and they have to stop it on the side of the road by the forest near Mari’s house. They can’t fix it, so they take the girls out of the trunk and go into the woods.

Meanwhile, Mari’s parents at home are talking with the two cops (the sheriff played by Marshal Anker and the deputy by Kove) about how Mari is missing and their worries about her. The juxtapositions of good and bad continue when Mari, though terrified and crying over what’s to happen to her and Phyllis, also sees her family’s mailbox and therefore knows she isn’t far from home, thus giving her hope. Also, when the cops leave Mari’s home, they drive past the mailbox and the gang’s abandoned car. The deputy suggests they find out whose car it is and help them, but the sheriff says they have more important things to do (helping Mari, in all irony!), so they drive away–so close to saving the day, yet so far away from it.

When the gang gets the girls out of the car, Phyllis bites Krug’s hand, making him want to hurt “that bitch.” With the girls in the middle of the forest now, Krug wants to get his revenge by humiliating Phyllis. He tells her to piss her pants right in front of the laughing gang. After seeing Weasel cut Mari’s finger with his switchblade for not doing as she’s told, Phyllis pisses her pants with a frown. Then they make her take her soiled pants off in front of them and make her hit Mari. Then the two girls are forced to get naked and engage in lesbian sex in front of them, Mari weeping the whole time.

VII: TLHOTL and Epstein

The degradation that Mari and Phyllis are being subjected to can be compared to what Epstein’s victims were put through. Mari is only 17, reminding us of the underage Epstein victims. There is the sexually perverse nature of what both the fictional and the real victims have suffered. There’s also the impotent law enforcement, who have the crimes practically before their eyes, yet they are either unable or unwilling to do virtually anything about it.

There is, however, one crucial difference between the gang in the movie and the Epstein perpetrators: the former are common criminals, lacking in money and political power, while the latter have these in abundance. Small wonder the law enforcement today cannot or won’t properly investigate and prosecute the wealthy offenders, for to do so would have to be so extensive as to bring down so many, if not virtually everybody in power, that the entire system would come crashing down like a house of cards.

I mentioned above that one of the lost scenes was of Sadie raping Mari. (Ghislaine Maxwell not only enabled the Epstein sexual abuse, grooming the girls, but also participated in the sexual abuse herself.) We may frown on the use of such language today, but–during the scene of Phyllis’s attempted escape from the gang, and upon Sadie’s catching of her, she’s hit by Phyllis with a rock–Phyllis’s calling Sadie a “stupid dyke” is understandable.

VIII: Two Shakespeare Allusions

There’s one moment in the film with a possible Shakespearean allusion, and another one with a definite allusion to the Bard. The possible one is from Othello, and the definite one is from Hamlet.

While Phyllis is running from Weasel and Sadie, and Krug has gone away to the car, Mari is left alone with Junior, who is being trusted to keep her from escaping. She hopes he’ll help her get away, though, to her nearby home, and even promises him he’ll get a “fix” (some Methadone, since her dad is a doctor). Trying to win his friendship and trust, she starts calling him “Willow.”

This sounds to me like an allusion to the “Willow scene” in Othello, in which Desdemona tells her maidservant, Emilia, about her mother’s maid, Barbary, who was in love with a man who went mad and forsook her. Barbary would sing “a song of willow” to express her heartbreak, and she would die singing it. The song is full of imagery from nature, including “a sycamore tree,” “a green willow,” and “the fresh streams,” all fitting imagery to be associated with Mari in the woods.

As for Junior, or “Willow,” he could be seen as analogous to the man Barbary loves, for “Willow” is going mad from his heroin withdrawal (to say nothing of his intimidation from being constantly bullied by his father, Krug), and he–in not sufficiently helping Mari to escape out of fear of Krug killing him–will forsake Mari, too.

She will die from a gunshot in the back from Krug as she walks in the lake, dazed in her trauma from having just been raped by him (as well as having his name carved into her chest). She’ll float head up, her body surrounded by plants, like Ophelia in Hamlet. She, too, was forsaken by the Danish prince, who also, it seemed, proved mad. If I’m right about the Othello allusion, then these two allusions are yet another doubling in TLHOTL.

IX: Bionian Psychoanalysis and TLHOTL

Please indulge me, Dear Reader, while I go off on a tangent for a moment. I’ll relate this tangent to TLHOTL soon enough.

Object relations psychoanalyst WR Bion had an application of Melanie Klein‘s notion of projective identification in which it’s not just about projecting feelings and manipulating others into embodying those feelings. For Bion, projective identification is a primitive, pre-verbal form of communication.

Such communication–originally between a baby and its mother, and later, between a (psychotic) patient and his psychoanalyst–is Bion’s theory of containment, which is normally about the mother or analyst (the container) soothing and processing the unbearable agitations of, respectively, the baby or patient (the contained). It’s normally a positive experience, helping the baby or mental patient to grow in the ability to think, learn from experience, and build a stable identity.

Bion’s notion of container/contained, represented by the female/male symbols of ♀︎/♂︎, implies a sexual symbolism of phallus (the contained) in yoni (the container), or the act of coitus. I find this symbolism extremely useful in analyzing TLHOTL, for sometimes the container/contained relationship is a negative one, -♀︎/♂︎, in which the container cannot process or manage the projections, a problem represented in the movie with the rapes, stabbings, carving of Krug’s name in Mari’s chest, him shooting her in the back, and later, with her parents’ revenge–her mother biting Weasel’s dick off and slitting Sadie’s throat, as well as Mari’s dad shooting Krug in the shoulder and finishing him off with the chainsaw.

Because of the psychopathic nature of the gang, their pain cannot be soothed or processed–it cannot be contained. Here, containment is not the quietening of a baby’s crying and soothing it to sleep; containment isn’t a psychiatrist soothing and helping to process the ranting and raving of a mentally ill man.

With the gang, the contained is a raping phallus, a switchblade stuck in Phyllis’s back, the knife cutting Krug’s name in Mari’s chest, and a bullet in her back. The container is the violated yoni of either girl, the stab wound in Phyllis’s back, the knife wounds on Mari’s chest, and the bullet wound in her back. The same goes for her parents’ revenge: the phallic contained is her mother’s teeth on Weasel’s dick, the switchblade going through Sadie’s throat, the bullet from Mari’s dad’s shotgun, and the chainsaw blade entering Krug’s flesh. The wounds that the gang received were all the yonic containers. These are all negative, destructive forms of containment, -♀︎/♂︎, for no one can process or manage such painful projections.

That we can see two perfectly straight, bourgeois parents immediately consumed with violent hate for their daughter’s murderers demonstrates projective identification utterly, even if the gang never intended to project their violence onto the doctor and his wife. The parents have become as violent and murderous as their daughter’s attackers.

X: The Final Act of TLHOTL

I said it above, and I’ll say it again: it is most extraordinary to see two straight, nice people transformed into not only killers, but bloodthirsty ones, and so quickly.

It is emphasized from the beginning of the film how straight, conservative, and nice Mari’s mom and dad are. They are uncomfortable with her wearing no bra, saying “tits,” and going to a rough area of town to attend a rock concert by a band called “Bloodlust.” Still, they’re laid-back enough to let her go.

We later see the two innocently preparing her birthday party in scenes alternating with those of Mari and Phyllis being terrorized by the gang in that apartment. They’re full of worry as they trust the two incompetent cops to find their daughter.

Mari’s parents are so nice and straight that they even give accommodations to a group of strangers, not knowing they’re Mari’s rapists and killers. They provide a nice dinner for them, Sadie gluttonously drinking their wine. They’re given Mari’s bedroom to sleep in; here, naturally, is where the gang sees photos of the girl they’d just raped and killed, and they know they must be careful of what they say with her parents potentially in earshot…though they’ll fail to be careful enough.

First, Mari’s mother picks up on clues: Junior is wearing a Peace necklace Mari’s dad bought and gave her as a gift at the beginning of the film; Junior’s heroin withdrawal and bad dreams of the murders cause him to shout out “Sorry!”, which causes more suspicion; then, her mom finds the gang’s bloody clothes in their luggage; then, she overhears the gang talking in Mari’s room about her body floating in the lake, prompting her mom and dad to go outside and find it there.

As I said above, what must be emphasized here is the sadism of the revenge that the parents get on Mari’s killers. The father doesn’t just get a shotgun and shoot all four of them, then plan to tell the cops he did it in self-defence. His and the mother’s revenge is out of unmitigated rage…stemming, ironically, from a deep love of their daughter.

The father sets up an electrocution booby trap by the back door of the house, having sprayed a slippery white cream on the floor by the door of Mari’s room, where the gang is sleeping. The mother pretends to seduce Weasel by taking him outside by the lake, and she even deliberately catches his penis in his zipper and calls it “little,” before beginning oral on him and biting it off, then leaving him to bleed to death there.

Krug fights with the father and has the upper hand until still-remorseful Junior threatens his dad with a pistol. Just to get a sense of how psychopathic Krug is, we see him manipulating his own son into pointing the gun at himself and blowing his brains out, which Junior does. Meanwhile, Mari’s father sneaks away to the basement and gets the chainsaw.

As explained above, the mother slits Sadie’s throat with the switchblade after a brief scuffle outside by the swimming pool, and the father kills Krug with the chainsaw, the cops having arrived too late to stop him. The film ends with the grieving parents knowing there’s no way they can pretend that their revenge was out of self-defence. Surely, though, they regret nothing.

XI: Conclusion

TLHOTL is a disturbing film to watch–no doubt. Knowing what the Epstein criminals did is even more disturbing, especially when we consider what little, if anything substantive, has been done about it (Were Epstein and Maxwell apprehended, or was that faked to placate us all?).

I think that a good use can be made of this movie by watching it while thoroughly identifying with 17-year-old Mari’s parents. We must imagine the Epstein victims as if they were our own daughters in order to build up the kind of rage we need to have to fight for justice (and this is just after International Working Women’s Day, as of the publication of this article)–instead of just passively accepting the crimes, imagining nothing can be done about them because the criminals in question are too rich and powerful to stop.

Just as Mari’s parents were just two ordinary people filled with rage over what was done to their daughter, driven to revenge without a thought as to how much stronger the killers were, so should we, on watching TLHOTL, be filled with a sufficient rage to rise up against the much more powerful pedophile ruling class, overthrow them (not necessarily in a sadistic manner, of course, but in a decisive one), and establish a just society.

For our law enforcement is little better than those two incompetent cops.